AN ONLINE scam offering cheap rental accommodation is exploiting international students unfamiliar with the best way to find a place to live in Melbourne during a rental property drought. 

The Tenants Union of Victoria said yesterday it had received 12 reports of students losing about $1000 each in the past three weeks.

Ploicy and liaison worker Toby Archer said the scam lured students with promises of cheap rent for inner-city apartments on websites such as easyroommate.com and realestate.com.au, one of Australia's most popular property sites.

Students were told the Australian landlord was overseas and the first month's rent and deposit should be paid into an overseas bank account before keys could be posted to the prospective tenants.

"Needless to say, the keys never arrive,"Mr Archer said.

Some Australians students had also fallen victim to the scam earlier this year, but greater number of international students were being exploited because they had little experience of renting in Australia and had limited local support networks, he said.

Rents as low as $500  a month were being advertised for apartments in the city or city fringe, Mr Archer said.

"As the rental crisis continiues, it is becoming more difficult for students to find appropriate accommodation,"he said.

News of the online scam follows the release this week of details of a new government taskforce that will look at ways of helping international students.

A lack of housing is one of several problems the taskforce is expected to examine. Other problems are attacks on personal safety and exploitation of international students in the workplace.

Mr Archer said he would be speaking to tenant unions in other states to monitor whether the scam was operating across Australia.

Source: http://www.theage.com.au  

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